After 2+ years of coding, I’ve decided to open-source Compass Calendar!

What does this actually mean?

Anyone will be able to go to my GitHub, read the code, suggest changes, fix bugs, or add new features. Anyone can use the code for profit, too. For example, you could make a copy of the code, change the name to Bob Calendar, launch it on bobcalendar.com, add a few features, and start charging for it.

When is this happening?

Between Tuesday and Thursday (Sep 26-28).

What happens to your data?

Nothing - your data will stay on Compass Calendar’s private databases and will not be accessible by anyone else. I’m open-sourcing the code that makes Compass Calendar work, but not the data of its users.

If you’d like to disconnect access to your Google Calendar, you can do so at any time through your Google Account [link]. This will cause all of your Compass data to be deleted, so be sure to back up any tasks you created in Compass beforehand. It won’t affect your Google Calendar data — that’ll stay the same.

What do you have to do?

Nothin! Compass will stay running on app.compasscalendar.com. Depending on how much support I get from the open-source community, it might even get a lot better.

If you’re a developer who wants to get involved right away, reply here with your availability. I’d like to jump on a Zoom call and see you follow my setup guide. That’ll help me make the docs as clear as possible.

Why am I doing this?

It wasn’t going to make enough revenue in the short term.

I initially planned on following the venture capital playbook:

• ✅ Validate market through research and shipping a prototype
• ✅ Launch a v1 to demonstrate value and competency
• 🔳 Find a co-founder
• 🔳 Raise seed money
• 🔳 Find product-market-fit
• 🔳 Scale

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After learning more about that model, I decided it wasn’t right for me. Without the possibility of outside capital, I had to figure out how to grow the old-fashioned way: by generating revenue. I had trouble attracting enough consumer users to counteract their price sensitivity. So, I researched how to pivot the product into one that businesses would use. After lots of reading and conversation, I found three business models that I believed could generate adequate revenue quickly.

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I picked one, made a roadmap, and checked it twice. It looked nice. Yay!

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I had been talking to a handful of potential co-founders. I was optimistic that I’d partner with at least one of them. But when I pitched them the idea of transitioning from a VC to a bootstrapped model, they lost interest.

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With runway and morale sinking, I decided I didn’t want to keep grinding at this alone. Finding a job was an easier way to get revenue and teammates, so I accepted a six-month contract as a developer for Costco.

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I tried to sell Compass, but couldn’t do so at a price that I felt good about.

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I considered keeping the code private to give myself the option to incorporate it into future products or spin out the Google Calendar integration into one of its own. Those would be long-term plays. I needed a short-term win. Open sourcing is a promising way to build goodwill and authority, which will make it easier to find future clients and teammates. Knowing that someone can use my code to kickstart their own business makes me feel good, too.

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Although the story of Compass is still being written, the chapter of my striving to turn it into a sustainable business is over. I really appreciate your support over the years. Thank you for being part of this journey with me 🙂

Tyler

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